Ramblings

Wednesday 1 September 2010

CHINA 2010 SATURDAY 28th AUGUST

It was to be one of those days. We had decided to go out early to the bookstore to buy Liz Carter’s book as we now had the ISBN number. We waited for the 22 bus watching other buses that we think we could have caught go by. At last the 22 arrived and going to an empty pair of seats towards the rear I sat by the window only to jump up again saying in a very loud voice “Oh No!” I had sat in a pool of milk. We moved to another pair of seats almost at the back whilst a man sitting on the back row apologised in perfect English. We thanked him saying it was not his fault as I began to try and clean my bottom with a wet wipe. Unfortunately the milk had soaked through to my knickers and it looked like I had done a very childish thing. As the bus stopped at traffic lights I took the wet wipe and returned to the milky seat to clean it up, disposing of the tissue in the waste bin, knowing that most eyes were on me. I didn’t want anyone else to do the same thing, but then I remembered local passengers usually check the seats before sitting down. The Nation would not accept a ban of food and drink on these buses! During our journey Keith and the man carried out a conversation. We found he was an Associate Professor of English, and occasionally French, at the ‘School of Foreign Languages’ at Jimei University. He seemed pleased to hear that we had been to his campus. Before he alighted he gave us his card asking us to call if ever we needed any help.
We got our book without any problem but on paying for it wondered where the assistant had gone after she had stamped the book and given us a receipt but not the book. I knew they did not provide bags but after a short while saw her come to a glass topped counter beyond the electronic security gates. A CD came with the book, unfortunately it is only the same dialect as in the book and spoken with an American accent. The book was not in the Tourism section but in English Reading.
The state of my trousers was embarrassing so instead of moving on to Plan B a visit to the ‘Overseas Chinese Museum’ we came home. It worked well as we had lunch and then set off again to climb the steep steps beside the manmade waterfall, which we learnt from the Professor was the entrance to Hongshan Park – another entrance! (This was Plan C on the day’s agenda.) Then we would go to the Museum.
Keith says we boarded the same 22 bus but thankfully it was a different driver. It was sod’s law that the waterfall had just been switched off as we reached our destination. Never mind we will climb the steps and perhaps see a different part of this park. The waterfall we discovered was a series of small cascades culminating in the deep drop to pavement level. In the small ponds we saw several goldfish along with small examples of pond plants. Looking down on to the tops of the trees I saw once again the red/orange tree was showing its splendour. Polly told me that the tree is named after a mythical bird but could not remember the name in Chinese or English. We were going to climb to the high shelter, but as we approached the steps leading up to it in one of the small gardens we heard a lot of noisy people already there so abandoned the idea. We moved on to the tea house to buy some ice cold water as we had forgotten to bring ours. We continued to explore the grounds reaching another Temple which was very plain compared to the newly built one on a higher level. A group of women were sitting around one of the tables sorting out artificial paper money ready for burning. On the perimeter of the Temple site was a tall rectangle brick built oven with heavy black stains above the small openings and set close to a tiled shower cubicle in a small area that had a lovely view over the straits to Gulangyu. We set off back down the way we had climbed and now the water was running again. When we reached the pavement level I decided to take a photo of the final stage which wasn’t anywhere as near picturesque as the upper levels. As I composed my picture I saw a man disappear behind the rock face. After taking my photo a group of women, followed by a man on a scooter, came out of the rock. Strange so Keith walked across a flat concrete bridge over the pond to investigate – it was a tunnel and he couldn’t see the end. Well let’s explore! It was dimly lit and I wouldn’t want to walk along it on my own or at night. On either side were ornate shaped windows with imitation green bamboo pillars in the framework. We were surprised to see a brightly lit fruit shop and further along on the opposite side a small ‘factory’ producing angled steel rods the interior extending as far as the entrance to two more tunnels. A couple of men were sleeping rough, the first laying in a narrow doorway puffing away on a cigarette with at least 30 cigarette ends and ash piled up in front of him. The other man had created an organised sleeping area under a wider arch. He was fast asleep on a cardboard bed with socks tucked into plastic shoes carefully placed by the top of his bed. Although sleeping rough he gave an impression of caring about the space he occupied and what personal belongings he had were neatly stored. We did not linger but climbed up the slight incline with still no sign of daylight. We came to the conclusion that we must have walked under the mountain eventually arriving at a large chrome gateway. Only the small gates at either side were open and a fruit seller had set out a display inside one of the openings leaving just enough room for us to pass by. We followed the road down to a main road that we recognised by the old building roofs across the road discovered on a recent walk. Reaching the junction I realised we should have gone left and not right at the Park entrance to reach the Museum. Did we really want to go today – I guess not, so walked home along Zhongshan Lu doing more window shopping and admiring the marble inside of the large shopping complex still under construction whilst walking in a roped off section when we should really have been on the other side of the road.
We went to eat in a Singaporean restaurant tonight close to the BRT station to be greeted by an elderly gentleman who explained the menu to us which not only had pictures but a good English translation. He recommended the beef curry, which was alright but the beef was a little tough and too much coconut milk for our liking. The dish reminded us more of Sri Lanka than Singapore. The fillet of fish in a sauce containing celery and lots of spices was great and we were glad we had been persuaded to try the ‘Malay Rice’ with lots of prawns, veg and scambled egg. We thought it would be good with the curry but this was the first dish to arrive and was almost gone by the time the curry came!
Leaving the restaurant we thought we would try out the music bar across the road. A traditional style building which looks quite small in daylight now looked much bigger as the building was outlined with strings of coloured lights. Keith suggested we look through one of the long side windows before going in. Good job we did - it was a very smart restaurant and as we passed the opening where two attractive young women stood waiting to greet the patrons heard a woman singing. We don’t think we would have enjoyed listening to her throughout our entire meal!

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